It's been twenty-nine years since California Cabernet Sauvignon challenged the top French Cabernets and came out smelling like a rose. Perhaps the time is ripe for California Merlots to follow suit.
California has been given a bad rap when it comes to Merlot. So our Suite 101.com/California Wine tasting panel attempted to determine how California Merlots stand up to St. Emilion and other international examples.
First, a little background on the Merlot varietal. Merlot is a Cabernet Sauvignon type grape with two important differences: it has a thinner skin and it ripens earlier. The thinner skin leads to less tannic wines that, unlike high quality Cabernet Sauvignon, do not require long bottle ageing. Earlier ripening allows Merlot to be successfully grown in cooler or marginal climates.
Merlot is the most widely planted red wine grape in the world. Even in Bordeaux, where Cabernet Sauvignon rises to it's greatest statement, Merlot plantings occupy twice the vineyard area devoted to Cabernet Sauvignon.
Merlot is widely used as a blending grape to soften the hard tannins of Cabernet Sauvignon. Most of the wines labeled Cabernet Sauvignon will contain a percentage of Merlot. Likewise, Cabernet Sauvignon is often used in small amounts to add a bit of structure to otherwise flabby or overly soft Merlots, both in France and California.
Since the archetypical Merlots are those from St. Emilion/Pomerol, our panel opened the event with a middle grade St. Emilion:
Ch. Quinault l'Enclos St.-Emilion 2001; 13.5% alc., $45
Robert Parker: 92-94. Most of us found this wine somewhat austere at first, with a slight chemical nose that later seemed to evolve into licorice. We found this wine at once thickly textured, but lean and structured. It had little of the ripe fruit flavors associated with California Merlots. It took a full hour for this wine to begin to open up and it accompanied food courses very well, better than any New World examples.
Our first comparison was with three international examples, from Australia, Israel, and Italy.
Marquis Philips Merlot 2003; 14% alc., $14.99
This wine turned out be our least favorite of the tasting. Two of us compared it to "Two Buck Chuck," kicked up a notch or two. Soft, monodimensional, smooth, with strong suggestions of caramel or butterscotch - descriptors not usually admired in dry red wine.
Yarden Merlot Galilee 2000; 13.9% alc., $21.99
This excellent Merlot from Israel's Golan Heights (elev. 3,600-3,900 ft.) was surprisingly attractive. It had some of the structure of the French example, along with a solid core of tasty, but not overripe, fruit. A hint of black pepper on the nose. A good value and a solid wine.
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